Debt
by Milareppa
Summary: Naraku and the jewel have been defeated, but Sango still has unfinished business to resolve.
1. Debt

**Setting:** Manga Canon, post-manga.

**Author's Note:**  
**1)** These chapters are stand-alone stories in response to various prompts in the Inu Yasha Themes Livejournal community. However, because they are sequels, they cannot be read individually and are therefore grouped together as chapters.  
**2)** This was inspired by a challenge prompt called "Sin" in the Inu Yasha Themes Livejournal community. It was also inspired by the same story I'm writing that inspired my one-shot "Reason to Live".

**Summary: **Naraku and the jewel have been defeated, but Sango still has unfinished business to resolve.

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**Debt**

She couldn't marry Miroku.

She hadn't told him yet about the bargain she had made with her heart for him. Foul as he was, Naraku hadn't resisted making a crack about it in front of everyone. They all suspected something. They didn't know - couldn't know – just how awful the truth really was.

But her companions wondered.

They wondered at her sad expression. They wondered why she couldn't look either the monk or Rin in the face. They wondered at the way Kohaku cast nervous glances towards his former protector while hovering possessively by her side – and at the way his glances were ignored.

One thing nobody wondered about was the fact that there was clearly something for the daiyoukai to ignore. The knowledge oozed through the air with the persistence of shouki, an insidious miasma that hovered over the village like a storm that was building towards a frightening climax. Even Inuyasha, still lingering beside the useless well, had sensed the electricity riding the air and had wondered.

She had asked for only a conditional reprieve, and those conditions had now been met. Yet, somehow, going to her death without explaining herself seemed like the act of a coward. She would not die that way.

So first she would explain about the debt she had racked up, the sin she had committed in the monk's name, and why she couldn't marry him. First, she would face Miroku.

And then she would face Sesshoumaru.

FIN.


	2. Shattered

**Setting: **Manga Canon, post-manga.**  
Author's Note:** This was inspired by a challenge prompt called "Plan" in the Inu Yasha Themes Livejournal community. It's a sequel to "Debt".**  
**

**Summary: **Sango gave Miroku a reason to plan for a future he never thought possible – until he learns that Naraku's death alone isn't enough to realise his dreams.

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**Shattered**

Grass that nodded in a gentle breeze carried no awareness of the thoughts of a mere monk. The gaily dancing blades neither cringed in the face of his despair nor parted before the strength of his stare. They didn't even have the decency to crumple in memory of the one that had so recently knelt before him. Her secrets, the blackest truths of her own heart, should have at least scorched the ground she had sat on, razing it forever with the weight of her guilt and sin.

He had originally possessed such a simple plan. Find Naraku. Kill Naraku. And along the way sire a son to continue the quest for vengeance if he, like his father and grandfather, should fail. Meeting Inuyasha's group had made the plan even simpler: it had given him allies. It should have been enough in life. It _had_ been enough.

Until he met Sango.

Until he dared hope for a life after Naraku. Until he had started planning a home, and marriage, and the names of countless daughters – all wearing Sango's beautiful smile - that he had hoped to father.

And now Naraku was dead. What could be simpler than that?

The quest to defeat Naraku had taken three generations; he should have known better than to assume mere death could stop such implacable evil. Naraku had possessed an insidious touch, one that reached beyond time and distance to scar innocent hearts and lives; one that reached beyond death.

Yes, the grass this day had no business looking so flushed with fresh, new life when his had been so thoroughly ruined.

His objective achieved, his plans were nevertheless in tatters. Only one single question drifted through the empty ocean of his once active mind. Why was his life worth the blood of an innocent child?

He couldn't answer that. Only one person could, and she had already departed for her tryst with death.

He forced himself to his feet. Perhaps if he left now, he could catch her. He didn't know what to do with the burden of this knowledge. He didn't know how to stop what she felt must happen. He only knew that he _had_ to stop it, because, from the shattered pieces of his hopes and dreams, one shard alone shone clear: he had to save her life.

It was, quite simply, the only plan he had left.

FIN.


	3. Lessons

**Setting:** Manga Canon, post-manga.**  
Author's Note: **This was inspired by a challenge prompt called "Blood" in the Inu Yasha Themes Livejournal community.

**Summary:** Naraku may be dead, but Inuyasha's prepared to fight him one last time – no matter the personal cost.

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**Lessons**

The trees whipped by at break-neck speed, preventing any meaningful visual assessment of his surroundings. Not that it mattered; Inuyasha was so familiar with the path he so urgently travelling, he could have travelled it in his sleep.

That Sango had always been trouble: trying to kill him, trying to steal his sword, trying to kill her brother and herself.

And now she had tried to kill Rin.

Naraku had twisted her heart from the first moment she met him, and had never let go. Inuyasha should have known that simply killing the bastard wouldn't free her. After Tessaiga's theft, she had even warned them that if Naraku tried such a trick again, she'd fall for it a second time. She had been right.

Damn that woman.

Naraku had told them that at some stage they would _want_ to kill Rin. This is what that vile monster had planned from the moment he had completed the jewel – not only to break the bonds between hearts during his lifetime, but beyond it as well. Sango was the perfect weapon: her death would devastate a lover, a brother, and permanently estrange two barely reconciled brothers.

Damn that bastard.

And it _would_ lead to a war between brothers, Inuyasha knew. Lingering near the well, hoping beyond reason that it would restore the path to Kagome's world, Inuyasha hadn't meant to overhear Sango's confession to Miroku. He had seen her leave northwards, the monk's determined chase, and he had known then that he had to follow. If he didn't, not only would Sango die but Miroku – either by trying to save her life or avenge her death – would die too. Inuyasha was the only one that could protect them from Sesshoumaru – by turning his brother's wrath on his own head instead.

Damn him for being such a sentimental fool. And damn Sesshoumaru too.

Such hollow thoughts sank into his heart with leaden force. Over the past year, it had become clear that his father had wished upon his two sons a legacy of compassion. He hadn't wanted them warring because of jealousy and hate, but now they'd be driven to war by compassion for their respective human companions. How the hell did this twist fit into the old man's grand plan?

A flash of metal focused Inuyasha's attention on the trees ahead, enough for him to spot the billowing purple robe. He had caught Miroku. Now, if only he could catch—

'Do you think me a coward?' Sango's strong, clear voice resounded through the trees. 'Don't take me lightly!'

'Sango, no!' Miroku's anguished cry stilled the wind itself as Inuyasha landed heavily beside his friend. A familiar deep whistle heralded Hiraikotsu's flight, but Inuyasha needed only a moment to see how long the throw was, and why.

Beautiful in her anger and pride, Sango faced not Sesshoumaru, but his back. Having upheld her vow to accept her fate, his indifference now was more than her self-respect could bear. Hiraikotsu's target was a solid patch of earth just beyond the dog youkai that would interfere with any simple departure he wished to make. She had no intention of being ignored.

The flash of white silk brought Inuyasha's attention back to his brother, the sleeve fluttering through the air as his left hand lashed out, the bone weapon landing with a powerful thud that reverberated through the entire clearing. The now unhindered daiyoukai continued along his path, disappearing amongst the trees like a fading wraith, and leaving behind the certainty of Sango's life within the width of the space that separated her nose from the still-quivering Hirakotsu – a mere inch.

The silence was disturbed only by the soft rustle of cloth, as Sango numbly sank to her knees. Although Miroku looked no less shaken, Inuyasha couldn't bring himself to focus on them, instead staring in the direction Sesshoumaru had vanished. Something had happened, somewhere a decision had been made and Inuyasha had completely missed what the trigger for that decision had been. Sesshoumaru was the only living blood relative he had, but at times was almost a stranger to him. He had spent more time around his brother in the past year than in the rest of his life combined, yet Sesshoumaru remained a mystery. Once more he had assumed he understood his brother. Once more he had miscalculated.

He had never been more grateful to be wrong.

FIN.


	4. Power

**Author's Note:**  
**1) **This was inspired by a challenge prompt called "Mind" in the Inu Yasha Themes Livejournal community.  
**2) **Sequel to "Lessons". Fourth instalment of the Debt series. Finale.

**Summary:** Kohaku reflects on the consequences of Sesshoumaru sparing Sango's life.

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**Power**

Kohaku knew what it was like to live a life - to possess a mind - that was not his own, to lack even the desire to escape. He knew what it meant to be powerless.

For a year, he'd searched for the power to defeat his enemy, broken memories his only strength. The sins of his slavery had been paid in blood, and the cost of escape required even greater debt. It was the great lesson he had learned: freedom wasn't free.

It had taught him nothing of what power could defeat Naraku, but Naraku's defeat had taught him something about power; killing him had not ended his hold on their hearts. In death, his dark web had remained intact. In death, he had remained powerful.

Until tonight; the night Sango had regained her life.

The night Naraku's power had shattered.

Kikyou had stated that swords could not defeat Naraku; Sesshoumaru's mother had stated that an enemy should be defeated with a compassionate heart. Tonight, Kohaku finally understood. Tonight, he had learned the truth about power.

True power didn't come from knowing when to swing a sword.

It came from knowing when to leave one sheathed.

**FIN.**


End file.
